Plan For Cotter Uranium Mill Gets Public Feedback
The Cotter uranium mill in Canon City wants to build a larger evaporation pond to gather contaminated groundwater and soil from the site. However, the idea wasn’t popular with concerned citizens at a public meeting Thursday night.
The mill stopped processing uranium in 2006 but can’t legally decommission, or close, until state and federal agencies review and approve a cleanup plan.
The approval process is fluid because the mill recently tore down buildings on the site, leaving the amount of contaminants and the best way to deal with them unclear. Three contaminants — uranium, molybdenum and TCE, an industrial solvent — have been discovered on the site.
Some of the estimated 70 people attending the meeting worry that contamination could spread to surrounding communities, and want to know why no other cleanup options have been suggested. Groundwater contamination already has been confirmed under the nearby Shadow Hills Golf Course.
Cotter has set up 11 new well monitors to track further contamination. The area currently has 160 monitoring stations.
The state health department and the Environmental Protection Agency are involved in the approval process. No EPA representative attended the meeting, which disappointed many residents.
The agencies hope to have a cleanup plan finalized by the end of spring, but a complete cleanup is expected to take years. No cost estimate has been given. The mill is on the federal Superfund list of contaminated sites.
